Our Roots

Photo shows railroad bridges over the Weber River heading into the city of Ogden in 1880.

In the 1820s, the abundant marshes stretching along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake and the two rivers flowing from the Wasatch Mountains drew trappers hunting for beaver and muskrat. One of those trappers was John Henry Weber, who spent nearly five years in the Rocky Mountain fur trade, much of it in northern Utah.

Today, Weber’s contribution to the early economics of the area now known as Weber County is memorialized in the county name as well as in the names of Weber Canyon, the Weber River, Weber State University and more. The tenacity and determination of Weber County’s first Native American residents, early fur traders and eventual settlers continued as communities were built, industries established and technologies of the future developed.

Early Native Americans who lived in the area had an advantage: plentiful water,

Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society

Weber County encompasses 644 square miles extending from the scenic Ogden Valley perched in the Wasatch Mountains at nearly 5,000 feet to the Great Salt Lake approximately 1,000 feet below. The variety of its scenic vistas is remarkable, ranging from rocky cliffs and high alpine meadows to flowing rivers, wetlands, tree-lined city streets and open farmland.

Photo shows the Opera House and the Reed Hotel at the corner of 25th Street and Washington Avenue in Ogden circa 1910.

Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society

along with the animals and plants that flourished near it. These early residents included the Fremont, Shoshone and Ute people. Peter Skene Ogden — a trapper, and the namesake of the Ogden River and Ogden City — worked in the area with a trapping party in the 1820s. In 1845-46, mountain man and trapper Miles Goodyear built a fort on a large westward bend of the Weber River that served as a base for trapping and trading. Known as Fort Buenaventura, the fort and its outbuildings were sold to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847, and the settlement grew to become Ogden City.

On May 10, 1869, 50 miles to the northwest of Ogden at Promontory Summit, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met to create the first transcontinental railroad.

This achievement brought on Weber County’s first growth spurt as Ogden became a major junction for transferring railroad cars, passengers and freight.

Other industries began to grow in the area, including woolen mills, canneries, livestock yards, banks, hotels and utility companies. The county truly served, and continues to serve, as a crossroads of the West.

Another population explosion occurred before and during World War II when Defense Depot Ogden, Hill Air Force Base and the Naval Supply Depot were created in the area. The war effort brought hundreds of trains per week through Ogden’s Union Station.